The Greater Killeen-Fort Hood Bowling Association will conduct its Open Tournament on Oct. 26-27 and Nov. 2-3. The team event will be at Phantom Warrior Lanes and doubles and singles at Killeen Bowlerama. Entries close on Oct. 13. Entry forms can be found on the association web site.

Local PBA member Josh Maxson finished in 21st place in the Southwest Region PBA Odessa Open and continues to make steady progress in the Southwest Region. After eight games of qualifying, Maxson finished in 21st place and was unable to advance on the 41-foot Scorpion pattern, one of the more challenging of the five named patterns.

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The PBA announced tour champions Osku Palermaa of Finland and Kelly Kulick of Union, N.J., will be inducted into the World Bowling Writers International Bowling Hall of Fame during the PBA World Series of Bowling at South Point Casino, Hotel and Bowling Center in early November.

Palermaa, who grew up in the Helsinki suburb of Espoo, won his first international medal — a bronze — in the 2005 World Championships team event, but over the next eight years garnered nine first-place finishes in international competition (eight in singles and a gold medal with Team Finland in the 2013 WTBA World Championships team event in Henderson, Nev.). He led the European Bowling Tour points rankings three consecutive years, and amassed a record total of 66 WBW Hall of Fame points to become the first two-handed bowler to earn induction.

Kulick’s international medal career spans 14 years, beginning with gold in singles and bronze in both team and trios in the 1999 WTBA World Championships in the UAE. As a professional, she was then denied a place on Team USA until WTBA changed its rules. When she resumed her Team USA competition, she won gold in the 2011 WTBA Women’s World Championships team event, topped the inaugural WTBA 2012 World Singles Championship in Cyprus, earned gold (mixed doubles) and silver (singles) in the 2013 World Games in Colombia and added two silver medals in team and trios in the 2013 WTBA World Championships for 44 WBW points.

The World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame, which is based upon points earned in international competition, is now supervised by the International Bowling Media Association.

Jerry Schneider, of the PBA, reported that PBA50 Tour veteran Robert Harvey of Boise, Idaho, was selected as the 2013 PBA50 Tour’s Dick Weber Sportsmanship Award winner by his fellow players, marking the second time he has won the honor named after the legendary PBA Hall of Famer.

“It’s an honor to win it once and a surprise to get it twice,” said the 57-year-old pro shop owner who first won the award in 2010. “It’s especially an honor to receive an award that’s voted on by your peers and named after one of the greats of the game.”

Harvey, who has competed on the Senior Tour since 2008, owns one PBA50 Tour title, which came in the Illinois State BPA Ladies and Legends doubles event, which he won with Kulick in 2008.

In 2013 he made a run at winning his second title by finishing second in the season-ending PBA50 Treasure Island Resort & Casino Open, losing to Hall of Famer Pete Weber, 243-227, in the championship match. He also had a fifth-place finish in the PBA50 Greater Birmingham Open earlier in the season.

“This season was probably the most consistent I’ve had to date,” Harvey said. “I had a couple of top-five finishes, finished in the top 20 in overall points and cashed in all but three tournaments. When you’re having fun, positive things happen. I think that attitude rubs off on your fellow competitors.”

After nearly 40 years, the Fort Hood Officers’ Mixed League at Phantom Warrior Lanes has finally come to an end. I know my Sweetie would be very disappointed because she was the league secretary for 35 of those 40 years. The league had as many as 18 teams, and over the past few years had dropped to eight and then couldn’t field the eight.

It’s unfortunate, but to have good leagues you must recruit and renew past members. Without that effort no league can survive.

I have not received any information on the TCBA Men’s league and their web page hasn’t been updated since last year.

See you on the lanes.

Don Wright has been sharing insights on area/national bowling with Herald readers for more than 25 years. Contact him at wrightdk@hot.rr.com